Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Cthulthoth_the_Callin_Chaos 06-21-03, 05:23 AM	What the heck is up with those swollen joints? I don't recall reading anything about those weird elbow sacks. They look creepy and I cn imagine what they feel like, which is even more disturbing. What in the nine hells are those and why do they have 'em?
Brian.C 06-21-03, 05:47 AM	Are you looking at the cover art for DUNGEON #100? Looking at the entire picture on page 96, I am inclined to believe that it depicts Vlaakith. and you know how liches are when it comes to physical appearance. - Brian
Drone23 06-21-03, 05:55 AM	If I remember right, in the old Fiend Folio it mentions that the githyanki have very loose folds of skin. It could be that these folds are slipping out of their "mummy-wrap" armor.
Kexizzoc 06-21-03, 08:40 PM	I've wondered about those elbows too... that picture is indeed Vlaakith, but I've also see it in other githyanki; if you got that poster, or have seen anywhere else, that picture of the githyanki with the siver sword horizaontal, looking all scary, he's got them too. They don't look like flaps of skin, per se; more like boney extentions. Just a weird anatomy I guess... I wonder, when they extend their arms, to the two knobs knock together? Maybe they fit around each other? Can a githyanki threaten to snap your neck with his elbow?
Brian.C 06-21-03, 08:47 PM	You know, in the Polyhedron issue of that DUNGEON, they show the first ever picture of a githyanki - the cover of the original Fiend Folio - and he had those "elbow sags" too. Who knows? Githyanki are ugly as it. - Brian
Pystian 06-21-03, 08:49 PM	What about the spots? Are those ever explained?
magicmarker13 06-22-03, 06:43 PM	i'm sitting here with my dad's old adnd fiend folio with the picture on the front with the githyanki that gave me nightmares as a little kid and it sez absolutely NOTHING anywhere in it about the bone stuff or the spots (and yes i've been curious about this as well) nore does it say anything at least from what i can tell in the new magazine, it says nothing in the manual of the planes, nor anything in the psionic handbook, unless there is a web enhancement that i've missed there is no info on the freaky bone crap. and i'm with you all when i say what the crap is the deal...
Pystian 06-22-03, 08:04 PM	The bone thing is a little freaky, but I like the spots... Maybe it's a side-effect from Illithid breeding?
Brian.C 06-22-03, 09:29 PM	Do illithids even have bones? No wait, they do - I remember reading somewhere that they were amphibians, which are vertibrates. I'm not sure what the githyanki are, but they aren't mammals - they hatch from eggs after all... perhaps they're some type of reptile. That would explain the spots. As for the odd joints... well, compaired to the anatomy of some other D&D races, this is a rather mild mutation. - Brian
Pystian 06-23-03, 02:16 AM	I didn't mean breeding with Illithids. I meant breeding by Illithids. Supposedly they were originally human (or at least human-like, depending on your source), which would imply mammal. The eggs thing is a good point, but there are other exceptions, no? Perhaps they're a monotreme. Yes... the Illithids crossbred Humans and echidna....
Kaardomos 06-23-03, 11:11 AM	Originally posted by Brian.C I'm not sure what the githyanki are, but they aren't mammals - they hatch from eggs after all... perhaps they're some type of reptile. That would explain the spots. Just for the record there are 3 mammals that lay eggs. They are the duck-billed platypus and 2 types of spiny anteaters(also known as echidnas IIRC.), which belong to, and are the only members of, the group of mammals known as monotremes.
Ashlock 06-23-03, 12:35 PM	Githyanki (and githzerai) were "once human" or human-like. They got the way they look now not by illithids breeding them, but by their exposure over millennia to the crazy magics and/or psionics that illithids used. As for the illithids themselves, they're kinda like the aliens in the Alien movies. A clutch of eggs is placed on the rim of the central brain's briny pool, then they hatch and swim around like tadpoles. Then whe they're more mature, they're inserted into the ear of a humanoid of sufficient height...they devour and replace the brain. Then the humanoid's body shifts to become the illithids we know and love. ;) Seriously. So yes, they have skeletons and spinal columns and all that good stuff. Gross, yes. But cool. This info comes from the 2E book The Illithiad.
Kexizzoc 06-23-03, 12:55 PM	I imagine githyanki evolution being like in H.G.Well's The Time Machine. In the distant future, the human race diverged for whatever reason; one became like small children, another went underground and became like grimlocks. Githyanki and humans came from the same ancestors; just they were barraged with illithid psionics and stuff; and I assume we weren't :D .
Chobemaster 06-23-03, 01:42 PM	The Githyanki are from the Astral, now. Maybe growing up in zero-gravity has done strange things to their joints, or when they come to the prime and are subjected to gravity, something strange happens to their joints. Astronauts/Cosmonauts have strange problems associate with extended time in space, after all, and the average githyanki has grown up in zero-g for a decent proportion of his life.
Mordenkainen's Rubber Duck of DOOM 06-23-03, 01:50 PM	yeah, unless Githyanki ships (all you trekkies who are getting excited, Githyanki use water-type ships, not space ones) have artificial gravity, which I doubt they would outside of a perminent Reverse Gravity Item or in Spelljammer, they'd grow and mature in 0G (which, strangely enough, causes juvenile creatures in the experiments on the space station to mature at almost triple speed...), so they'd looks weird. I also think that the Gith are somewhat Dinosaurian creatures, with reptilian features such as eggs and spots, but with warm blood. [or at least some kinds of dinosaurs]
Mage of Sembia 06-23-03, 02:29 PM	This may be a bit off topic, but where do githyankis age? Or are the githyankis put in a room when they are kids and have a bunch of mass hastes cast on them?
Cthulthoth_the_Callin_Chaos 06-23-03, 02:42 PM	I seem to recall that Githyanki are born and grow on the Material, but when they hit maturity, they train in the Astral.
Brian.C 06-23-03, 02:50 PM	A githyanki's lifespan is about 200 years (according to the latest Polyhedron), but if he never leaves the Astral, he can theoretically live forever. HOWEVER, if an average githyanki spends more than two centuries in the Astral, he'd best NEVER leave it; when a creature leaves the plane, his age catches up to him. A very-long-lived githyanki who entered a plane with regular time would age decades within seconds, die from old age, and be reduced to dust. Of course, most githyanki heroes use powerful magic items to avoid this, and come and go to and from the Void as they please. - Brian
Weenie 06-23-03, 02:55 PM	Originally posted by Cthulthoth_the_Callin_Chaos I seem to recall that Githyanki are born and grow on the Material, but when they hit maturity, they train in the Astral. Yeah, that was from the 2E "Players Guide to the Astral"... I'm fine with that, but I really, really don't like that "time catches up with you once you leave the Astral" part (slightly OT, I know). Good thing it's not been confirmed in 3E, AFAIK.
Mage of Sembia 06-23-03, 02:57 PM	Is it underground or on the surface?